City: Hafnerberg is a small village
lying on the Southern edge of a modest, but very beautiful
plateau near Nöstach. Nature and the presence of green
mountains make the whole image a real sight for sore eyes.
For many years Nostach and Hafnerberg were one municipality,
until they were both added to Altenmarkt and Triesting in
the 1970's. The village is situated about 46 kilometers south
west of Wien (Vienna).
The village is not large. The Altenmarkt Internet site
describes the village as consisting of two restaurants, a
tool shop, a voluntary fire department, a handful of houses
and the pilgrimage church (Wallfahrtskirche).
Bldg.: Wallfahrtskirche (Pilgrimage
Church)
From a religious point of view, the village lies along
the oldest pilgrim route in Austria, from Hinterbrühl
to Mariazell. This route has existed from the middle ages.
The route is named “Via Sacra” or “Holy
Street”. The word Wallfahrtskirche means pilgrimage
church. The name proclaims clearly which church the Hafnerberg
church is still used by.
In 1716 a chapel was built, at the site where master
miller Pankratz Reichhard had placed a statue of Mary (Mary
column). The chapel was subsequently replaced by the current
church, in 1745. The style of the church is baroque.
God's name: In a niche on the left side
before the main altar is the ‘plague altar’. The
painting on the altar depicts the crowning of Mary. The statues
are reminiscent of the plague. The picture under the painting
is dedicated to Rosalia, a catholic plague saint. The two
statues, left and right, are the catholic plague saints Sebastianus
and Rochus. The plague was believed to have been a punishment
from God. Plague chapels, plague columns and plague altars
were made by survivors of the plague as a sign of gratitude
for their survival.
On top of the plague altar God’s name is placed
inside a radiating triangle. It has been written with some
artistic freedom and we see that the first and third character
(right to left) are the same…
